Telugu Desam continues winning spree

Armed policemen controlling a section of the electorate who complained of removal of their names from voters lists, at Kandipadu village in Bellamkonda mandal of Guntur district. Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar

THE HINDU

People wait in serpentine queue to vote in a polling station at Singarayakaonda in Prakasam district on Saturday. Photo: Kommuri Srinivas

THE HINDU

A section of the electorate at Kandipadu village in Bellamkonda mandal of Guntur district complaining of deliberate removal of their names from voters lists. Photo: T. Vijaya Kumar

THE HINDU

Voters standing in long queues to cast votes at Nawabupalem village in the second phase of Panchayat elections, in Krishna district, on Saturday. Photo. Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar.

Congress-backed candidates restricted to third spot with contestants supported by the YSRC faring a little better

Candidates supported by the Telugu Desam Party continued their winning spree in the central coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh during the second phase of the panchayat elections on Saturday.

Congress-backed candidates were restricted to the third spot with contestants supported by the YSR Congress faring a little better.

Except in West Godavari, where the Congress-supported sarpanches were in the second position and the YSRC trailing close behind them, the ruling party was reduced to the third position in Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, and Nellore districts.

When the results last came in, the TDP was in the first position in West Godavari with 99 sarpanch seats, Congress 71, and YSC 63. In Krishna district, sarpanches backed by the TDP had won 95 out of 197 gram panchayats, the results for which were declared at 10.30 p.m.

In Guntur, while the TDP-backed candidates had won 105, YSRC-backed sarpanches had won in 63 seats, leaving the Congress candidates in the third place at 57.

In Prakasam district, Congress-sponsored candidates managed to win only 101 seats, while their YSRC counterparts bagged 133 and TDP-sponsored candidates won in 155 places.

In Nellore, however, the YDRC was in the first position with 87 seats and the Congress candidates taking away 49 and the TDP winning only 37 sarpanch seats.

A record number of 89.65 per cent of poll percentage was recorded in the 14 mandals in Vijayawada division.

An unprecedented number of voters turned out to poll booths to use their right to vote with the political parties’ grand mobilization to the voters to exercise their franchise. As the police scenario in Andhra Pradesh has been completely changed with the first-phase results, the political parties have played a laudable role to boost the poll percentage as a part of their fray. Nandigamam mandal witnessed division’s highest poll percentage of 95.44 per cent while Penamaluru experienced the lowest turn out of barely 79 per cent of voters in Vijayawada division.

Winning streak

The Telugu Desam Party continued its winning streak in the second phase of panchayat elections in Guntur division also, and the YSR Congress posted a slightly better performance than in the Tenali division that went to polls three days ago.

They relegated the Congress to the background.

Out of 261 sarpanch posts for which elections were conducted in 18 mandals, the TDP claimed to have won over 100 posts with the YSRC and the Congress lagging well behind.

The ruling party yet again faltered in the race to gain political supremacy at the grassroots level.

The anti-incumbency factor clearly worked to the detriment of the Congress and the YSRC rank and file struggled to get their act together.

The TDP converted the collective failure of its rivals to its advantage in the run-up to the general elections.

TDP said the results of the first two phases of the panchayat elections point to its resurgence and asserted that it would leave no stone unturned in consolidating the gains it made over the last few months.

The YSRC and the Congress are facing a daunting task of making up for the losses, which could not have come at a more inopportune time.